Although born and raised in New Jersey, Todd Edwards is basically an honorary Brit at this point. His lifelong passion for all things UK garage, and his sincere care in how he approaches the genre and the scene, immediately ingratiated him with the UK when he first started coming over in the early 2000s. We’ve all seen the infamous clip of Edwards playing a packed-out rave in Romford in 2003, decked out in his equally legendary ‘Jesus Loves UK Garage’ t-shirt, whipping the crowd up into a frenzy and nearly tearing the venue off the roof.
That was no fluke. He’s a master of his craft and his record collection is peerless. Of course, he isn’t just a selector. Parallel to his unmissable DJ sets, Todd’s also a veteran producer. And, like his sets, his productions explore the connections between UKG, bassline/4x4 and house music, often using classic New York house (which, famously, was a huge influence on the first UKG creators in the ‘90s) as the nexus. This month alone has been a busy release schedule for him; a 2-step remix of Sonny Fodera and Just Kiddin’s “Closer” with Lilly Ahlberg, and a collab with Fred Falke and Zen Freeman’s Ampersounds track “Money” kicked the month off and then, this Friday (June 18), he’s helming his own House Masters compilation for Defected.
Ahead of his set at 51 State Festival on Saturday 7th August, Todd ‘The God’ Edwards goes inside the mix for Complex Sessions with some bouncy, uplifting steppers. Press play below, and enjoy.
Tell us a bit about your selections in this mix.
There are a few tracks from my remastered back catalogue in this mix; the digital re-release with Defected is great. I really do love having high-quality versions available on DSP. It also looks great on Spotify as they’re in chronological order.
Any tracks that narrowly missed the cut?
My recent remix for Sonny Fodera. I wanted to include it but I’m always respectful of artists’ release schedules.
What’s the first single or album you ever bought?
It’s not easy to remember, but I think the first 45 record I got was Peter Brown and Betty Wright’s “Dance With Me”, released on Drive Records in 1978.
What do you want to see happen musically over the next 12 months?
Honestly, I want to see people rejoice in the fact that we can all go to clubs and festivals again but I know that’s exactly what’s going to happen. I would also love to see artists come with innovative ideas. It feels like most music across genres hits the same parameters and few take chances and try something new.
What trend or scene absolutely needs to die right now?
I would love for the self-indulgent social media trend to die. We all do it because it feels necessary, but the pics in front of huge crowds and exotic locations... Can we move on from this? It’s like, “We get it: you’re popular. You’re so popular that you have to promote how popular you are. Do you have any music to promote?”
